Clearly, this was something people used to tell him when he was growing up in Vega Baja, Puerto Rico.

``Yeah, yeah,'' he confirms. ``Too many people!''

With this, he slaps his knee and laughs heartily and good-naturedly. It is the laugh of a man who knows he has proved his skeptics wrong.

Even at his officially listed height of 5-foot-7, which might be exaggerated by an inch or more, Otero is the shortest player on the Norfolk roster by two inches.

But among the prospects in the Mets' rapidly improving farm system, Otero stands tall.

Who did the Mets honor as the top player on last year's Double-A Binghamton team, which won the Eastern League championship? A hint: It was not 14-game winner Bill Pulsipher or 13-game winner Chris Roberts, and it was not slugging third baseman Edgardo Alfonzo or slick shortstop Rey Ordonez.

It was, of course, leadoff batter Otero, who batted .294, stole 33 bases and scored a league-high 96 runs. He capped the season by hitting .350 in the playoffs.

That performance earned him an invitation to the Mets' strike-delayed major-league training camp, where he batted .300, hit a home run and stole five bases without getting caught. It was enough to convince New York manager Dallas Green to keep Otero on the big-league roster - instead of one of the veteran outfielders who started the year at Norfolk - in place of injured starter Ryan Thompson.

``In no way was it a gift for him to start the year in the majors,'' said Steve Phillips, director of the Mets' minor-league system. ``If you're just letting a guy get his feet wet, you don't do it at the start of the season. At the start of the season, you're trying to win - period.''

With the Mets in need of speed - as well as a defensive replacement for David Segui, who started in Thompson's left field spot - Otero spent 22 games with the Mets.

``It surprised me very much to start the year in the major leagues,'' said Otero in enthusiastic, heavily accented English. ``I work hard, and I make the team.''

By all accounts, he was doing a good job with the Mets, playing well in the field and scoring nine runs. But he was clearly overmatched at the plate, and he was sent to Norfolk with a .146 batting average.

Otero attributed his struggles at the major-league level to ``thinking too much'' against superior pitchers. If a young hitter goes to the plate looking for a certain pitch in a certain location against any big-league pitcher, Otero said, he will be handcuffed by any other pitch.

He hit a home run in his first at-bat for the Tides, and he entered the weekend hitting .231 with four stolen bases.

He said his goal is to make it back up to New York by the end of the season.

That he is this close to the majors fewer than two months after his 23rd birthday is testament to both his skills and his desire.

In high school, he was told that he would be too small for the big leagues. Even starring for high-level teams in Puerto Rico, he was overshadowed by current major-leaguers Juan Gonzalez, Ivan Rodriguez and Mel Nieves.

But Junior Roman, a scout for the Mets, saw something he liked and convinced New York to use a late draft choice on the little speedster.

Recalled Phillips, ``Our scout told us, `I know he's small, but this kid can play. He knows how to play the game, and he plays to win.' ''

He has done nothing to disprove that assessment.

Otero said that when he was growing up, he idolized other small outfielders such as Len Dykstra and Mookie Wilson, who used speed and hard work to establish themselves in the majors.

Ironically, when he arrived at Norfolk, he took the roster spot of another tiny center fielder - Jarvis Brown, a talented and respected player for the Tides, who was released to make room for Otero.

``I think that made it a big challenge for Ricky,'' Norfolk manager Toby Harrah said.

``He knew that the guy he was replacing had done a great job, that he was a real team leader. He came in here knowing that he had a tough player to replace.''

When Otero struggled somewhat in the leadoff spot, Harrah dropped him to the bottom half of the batting order to take off some of the pressure and to keep him from thinking too much.

He has responded with a nice line-drive stroke and will be batting first again soon.

``I know why I am here,'' Otero said. ``I need to work on hitting line drives and hard ground balls. And steal bases. And play great defense. If I do those things, I will be back in the major leagues.''